


The Tale of Adelaide Radcliffe

by lulla_lunekjaer



Category: The Ever Afters Series - Shelby Bach
Genre: Adelaide Alone, Gen, idk what to tag this . . .
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 15:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5971449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulla_lunekjaer/pseuds/lulla_lunekjaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time there was a girl that no one held in very high regard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale of Adelaide Radcliffe

Once upon a time there was a girl that no one held in very high regard. For love, she had accidentally betrayed her own to the enemy once. For the same crime, many others have been lauded, yet she was sentenced anyway. She escaped, living a life of travel until they captured her again.

The problem was, she didn’t want to be needed by them. She liked her life, driving around the backwaters of the continental  United States. Stay for a night, stay for a week, always somewhere new. 

They had told her love was a crime, and maybe they were right. It had gotten her nowhere, given her nothing. 

They tried to get her back. She would serve her sentence, tell everyone about the dangers of love and the dangers of not loving anyone. She sent them a picture of herself, a yellow sundress on a silver truck. On the back, in perfect handwriting, was written  _ fuck off _ .

They sent everyone. She was captured, she escaped. 

There’s a small town in Texas that by law has to investigate all women arguing over mirrors in the streets. An ice cream shop in Indiana that doesn’t allow cosplayers with “fake” weapons. A nail salon that no longer stocks ‘Love Is In My Cards’ nail polish. 

They sent Lena, the triplets, Daisy, even. Sarah Thumb, Miriam, anyone and everyone they had. But not Rory, never Rory. Not until now.

She cornered her in Lovelock, Nevada.

“Adelaide-” They were in an alley, behind the motel where she was staying. The night was warm enough, but she shivered slightly in her sundress. Rory had a sword, she had nothing, not even a fork, like the time when Vicky tried to capture her in a diner. 

“It’s ironic, isn’t it. Lovelock.” She threw the words at her, gesturing grandly. “Considering the history between us.”

“Things have been-” Adelaide cut her off.

“I’m not finished yet. I’ve told you all, time after time after time. For four years, I’ve been telling you. I’m not going back, not now, not ever. I’m not a cautionary Tale. For all you care, I died in that battle. It would never have been enough, anyway. Not like that.”

“It’s not that.” She cocked her head. “Adelaide, I’m getting married.”

"And you want me there in triumph. ‘Look, I’ve brought home the black sheep, oh and look! for her punishment she can watch the girl she loved marry the boy everyone thought she loved.’” She spun around, laughing as she remembered the days before she left for good.

Rory held out a cream envelope. “I want you to come, but not like that.” 

“How, then?”

“Rapunzel.”

Adelaide looked up at her. “I don’t want anything to do with Lena.”

“Not Lena.” Rory’s voice shook, her hand still holding the outstretched letter. “Rapunzel, the Snow Queen’s sister.”

“Rapunzel’s dead. She’s been dead for years.”

“Rapunzel was your great-somethingth-grandmother.”

“No,” The words were barely audible. “How do you know?”

“She told me, right before the War.” Rory can say it so matter-of-factly, like she would say “the sky is blue,” or “Chase is my true love,” or “traitor.”

“She could be lying.”

“She never lied. She left things out, but she would never have lied. It’s not her style.”  _ It’s your style _ , Rory should say, but those words are left unspoken.

The words between them are always left unspoken. 

“Adelaide, you don’t have to came because I invited you. You should just come. See everyone one more time, even if it’s for the last time. If you still want to leave forever after that, we’ll stop chasing you. It’ll be The End. Just like you always wanted.”

“I never wanted to leave you.” She sighed. “Well, I did after, but not before. You were a light, and I was always in darkness, but I’ve learned how to make my own light. I don’t need a lamp anymore.

“But I’ll come to your wedding.” Rory’s face shone. “If--and only if-- you let me bring a vodka bottle full of water and let me chug it in front of all the impressionable young things there.”

Rory groaned. “Oh god, what am I getting myself into?”

And just maybe, they lived happily ever after.


End file.
